I stood at one entrance, trying not to look as terrified as I felt. Finn and Gavril flanked me like seconds in some archaic honor duel, which wasn't far from the truth.
"Remember," Gavril said, his voice low and urgent, "Valentina specializes in elemental transmutation. She'll try to change the properties of whatever she targets, air to fire, stone to quicksand."
"Great," I muttered. "So basically, everything around me could become deadly at any moment. How is that different from my normal life?"
Finn snorted. "Fair point. But seriously, your best strategy is probably to be unpredictable."
"Again, my specialty."
"Your luck has been different lately," Gavril observed, more thoughtful than I'd ever seen him. "During the trials, it actually helped us at certain points. It's almost as if..."
"As if what?" I prompted when he trailed off.
He shook his head. "Just a theory. Not worth mentioning until I'm sure."
Before I could press him further, Professor Blackthorn led us through a shimmering barrier at the arena's entrance, reality warped and suddenly we were standing in what appeared to be an infinite void. Beneath our feet, a transparent platform extended outward, creating a circular stage roughly thirty feet in diameter. Beyond that. Nothing. Just endless darkness in all directions.
"Welcome to the Void Arena," Professor Blackthorn announced, her voice echoing strangely in the absence of walls. "One of my personal favorites for freshman duels. Minimal environmental factors to consider, maximum visibility for spectators, and absolutely no place to hide." She punctuated this last point with a predatory grin.
The other students materialized around the edge of the platform, safely behind a glowing barrier. I spotted Finn giving me an enthusiastic thumbs-up while Gavril made a slicing motion across his throat that I chose to interpret as "cut it short" rather than "you're dead."
"Dueling," Professor Blackthorn began, pacing the center of the arena as Valentina and I stood awkwardly at opposite ends, "is not about destruction. It's about precision, control, and knowing exactly how much force to apply."
She stopped, pivoting sharply to face the spectators. "Which is why you'll all be thoroughly disappointed today. Freshman duels are pathetically restrained affairs."
A collective groan rose from the audience. Professor Blackthorn laughed.
"Combat magic requires mental discipline beyond what most of you currently possess. Without proper restraint, you'd reduce yourselves and this lovely academy to smoking craters within minutes." She clapped her hands together. "So! Today's demonstration will use the Standard Freshman Limitations Protocol."
She gestured, and the runic patterns on the floor illuminated, forming a perfect circle around the central platform.
"The Containment Ring ensures that stray magic remains within the dueling area. The Perception Barrier allows observers to see the action without risk of injury. And the Nullification Zones…" she pointed to two small circles at opposite ends of the arena "…provide safe areas for yielding or regrouping."
She turned to face Valentina and me. "The rules are simple: No lethal intent. No permanent transmutations. No summoning of extradimensional entities, yes, that needs to be specified after the Incident of '42." She shuddered theatrically. "The duel ends when one participant yields, becomes incapacitated, or when I determine a clear victor."
Professor Blackthorn gestured for us to take positions on opposite sides of the circle.
"Remember," she added, her eyes twinkling with barely restrained excitement, "this is educational. Try not to kill each other... at least not until you've learned something useful."
With that reassuring advice, she leaped backward with her inhuman agility, landing just outside the Containment Ring.
"Ready yourselves!"
"Begin!" Professor Blackthorn's command echoed through the void.
I barely had time to register the word before a surge of heat rushed toward me. Valentina hadn't wasted a single moment, transmuting the air between us into a wave of scorching plasma. I dove to the side, feeling the heat singe my eyebrows as the attack roared past.
"First lesson," Professor Blackthorn called out cheerfully from beyond the barrier, "initiative is everything!"
"Thanks for the heads-up," I muttered, scrambling back to my feet as Valentina prepared her next assault.
Her fingers traced elegant patterns in the air, each movement precise and practiced. The confidence in her stance made it clear she'd been training for duels like this since childhood. Meanwhile, my only real combat experience consisted of getting thrashed by Elias and narrowly surviving the admission exams.
"What's wrong, Ardent?" Valentina called, her voice carrying across the arena. "Did you use up all your luck turning my hair blue?
I didn't bother responding. Talking during combat was a luxury afforded for those who knew what they were doing. Instead, I focused on establishing a basic defensive barrier, one of the few spells I'd managed to perfect thanks to my patient mother.
However, it mattered nothing thanks Valentina's attack. The floor beneath my feet suddenly liquefied, transforming from solid crystal to something with the consistency of honey. I sank immediately up to my knees, the viscous substance hardening almost instantly, trapping me in place.
"Excellent transmutation, Miss Morgenstern!" Professor Blackthorn applauded. "Notice how she maintained molecular cohesion while altering viscosity!"
"Fascinating," I grunted, trying unsuccessfully to pull my legs free. "Really educational."
Valentina approached with the casual confidence of a predator that knows its prey is trapped. Her amber eyes gleamed with satisfaction as she raised her hand for what I assumed would be a finishing move.
"I could turn your blood to ice, but that would violate the 'no lethal intent' rule. So instead..."
The air around my head began to shimmer. I felt a strange pressure in my ears, then a gradual muffling of sound as the atmosphere around my head transmuted into something denser, making it harder to breathe. Not suffocating, exactly, Valentina was too skilled for such crude methods, but definitely uncomfortable, like trying to breathe underwater.
My vision began to blur as oxygen became scarce. Through the distortion, I saw Professor Blackthorn watching with interest, apparently unconcerned that one of her students was slowly asphyxiating in front of an audience.
"Second lesson," I heard her say, her voice strangely distant through the altered air, "adaptability in adverse conditions!"
Easy for her to say. She wasn't the one whose lungs were burning.
I needed to focus. Transmutation worked by altering the fundamental properties of matter and energy. I had to least disrupt her concentration enough to break the spell.
I raised my hand, focusing what little oxygen-deprived brainpower I had left on a counter-spell. Something simple. Something I couldn't possibly mess up.
A basic light flare. Bright enough to blind temporarily, but not harmful. I'd practiced this one countless times after accidentally setting my father's favorite chair on fire.
Nothing happened.
Valentina smirked. "Performance issues, Ardent? I've heard that's common for village mages."
I tried again, focusing harder, pouring every ounce of magical energy I could muster into the spell. I felt the power building, saw the faint glow forming around my fingertips.
Then, predictably, my luck intervened.
Instead of a controlled flash of light, my spell interacted with the transmuted air around my head, creating a reaction that neither Valentina nor I had anticipated. The dense atmosphere ignited, not with fire, but with a burst of prismatic energy that exploded outward in all directions.
The crystallized floor beneath me shattered, freeing my legs. Valentina, caught by surprise, stumbled backward, her concentration broken. The air returned to normal, and I gasped in a desperate breath.
"Unconventional counter!" Professor Blackthorn shouted, clearly delighted by this turn of events. "Though I suspect it was more accident than strategy!"
I didn't respond, too busy being grateful for the oxygen flooding back into my lungs. The respite wouldn't last long; Valentina was already recovering, her expression shifting from surprise to something much colder.
"Lucky break," she hissed, her voice carrying just enough for me to hear. "But luck runs out."
Yup. You guessed correctly dear reader, her statement was spot on.